Background The lack of adherence to the pharmacological treatment of patients with chronic diseases is a prevalent and relevant problem in routine clinical practice.

Purpose To assess the degree of adherence to the non-chemotherapy intravenous treatment of chronic patients who came to the day hospital, as well as to identify the possible specific factors related to therapeutic compliance.

Material and methods A retrospective longitudinal descriptive study of 1 year duration (2017) was carried out. This included patients who went to the day hospital to receive treatment. The adherence data were extracted from the pharmacy service database and day-hospital records. The demographic and clinical data of the patients were obtained from the review of electronic health records: age, gender, pathology and treatment. Besides, the degree of adherence was expressed as a percentage and the results were calculated from the records previously submitted and taking into account the posological interval. Adherence was considered adequate when values equal to or greater than 90% were obtained. On the other hand, the association between the variables studied and the degree of adherence was estimated by means of statistical tests of hypothesis contrast.

Results A total sample size of 199 patients were included with a mean age of 51 years and 64% of them were females. The most frequent pathology was rheumatoid arthritis (30%), followed by Crohn’s disease (26%) and lupus (10%). In agreement with this fact, the most frequently infused drug was infliximab (38.7%), followed by tocilizumab (24%) and belimumab (10%). Adherence to the treatment was considered inadequate in 22% of patients. Females had a higher degree of non-adherence (61%) than males. The variables that showed a statistically significant association with adherence to the treatment were the drug delivered, the dosage interval and the duration of the infusion (Chi square-test with p<0.05). Patients under treatment with frequently administered drugs were more likely not to attend further appointments. In addition, therapies whose administration required a short time in the day hospital favoured a greater degree of adherence in patients.

Conclusion The degree of adherence to the intravenous ambulatory treatment was inadequate in 22% of the population. The infused drug, the dosage interval and the duration of the administration were the variables that showed association with the adherence of the patients.

References and/or acknowledgements To my workmate, thank you for your help.

No conflict of interest.